Reports: Port Arthur platoon sergeant guilty on 1 count

A Fort Bragg Staff Sgt. from Port Arthur accused of playing a role in another soldier’s death was found guilty of one count today, reports FayObserver.com.

A military judge at Fort Bragg found Staff Sgt. Blaine Dugas guilty of one specification of dereliction of duty, and not guilty of three other charges. Dugas was accused by military prosecutors of not doing anything to stop harassment that pushed Pvt. Danny Chen to kill himself at an Afghanistan outpost last fall.

Army Staff Sgt. Blaine G. Dugas, Jr., 35, is the eighth soldier to face a court-martial in the death of Army Pvt. Danny Chen, 19, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound last October while stationed in Afghanistan.

A pre-trial investigation, of what the Army refers to as an Article 32 hearing which determines whether there is sufficient grounds to believe a crime was committed, was completed in February. As a result of the findings

Staff Sgt. Blaine G. Dugas, Jr.FayObserver.com.

, Dugas will face four charges of dereliction of duty for failing to prevent maltreatment and failing to monitor corrective training, according to the Army.

Charges that Dugas, a Thomas Jefferson High School graduate, made a false official statement and violated a lawful general regulation were dropped, according to the Fairbanks Daily News-miner, a newspaper in Alaska where Dugas is based.

Chen, from New York, was subjected to weeks of racial slurs – he was of Chinese descent – and physical abuse and humiliation, The Associated Press reported. Chen’s family has said military investigators have told them Chen was forced to do excessive sit-ups, pushups, runs and sprints carrying sandbags.

Chen’s body was found in a guard tower in Kandahar province with what the Army has described as “an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.” He had been in Afghanistan for two months.